Silence Falls

“Same here.” Bam snarled to the ‘good’ Dr. McCarter. He felt that was all he could say without procuring a severe beating by the security guards in the room standing around like terrorizing thugs ready to kill.

Doctor McCarter nodded before viewing his own son, Bert. Flashing the glowering boy an innocuous smile, he delicately inquired. “And how did you feel, son?”

If Bert’s glare could become any more abrasive, it did as soon as his father addressed him. Especially because he once again called him his son in front of his friends who he can imagine are troubled over the revelation he’d been keeping hidden from them all this time. No, this man wasn’t his father anymore. Not this bastard in a suit sitting in front of him, he’d lost that right the moment he flung him in that subterranean prison and left him to rot. If he thought calling him ‘son’ would expunge all the dissension between them, then he was dead wrong. Bert wasn’t going to say a peep to him. Over his dead body.

Two of the closest brawny soldiers noticed that Bert wasn’t answering the Good Doctor’s questions like he was supposed to, and so they stepped forward with the intention to distribute a brisk but excruciating approach with him as a warning to cooperate. But the Doctor lifted his hand to halt them before they could reach the insubordinate prisoner. Complying with his command, the soldiers stepped back to their positions, their eyes still locked on the young man whom they knew to be the son of Dr. McCarter.

“Don’t mind this one, brothers. He doesn't have to speak unless he wishes to, unlike the others.” He instructed his guards, his eyes remaining on his unshakable child who continued to glare at him venomously. Looking to the other three boys, he addressed them instead for his answers. “What happened next after the soldiers showed up on that road between Silence Falls and the Medical Facility you escaped out of?”

“They ordered us out of the van by pointing guns and threatening us. We followed their orders because we knew that we didn’t have a fair chance against them. Then somehow...out of nowhere...they were jumped by a bunch of demented patients, the same ones from the Medical Facility.” Connor told him, recalling the excellent timing those lunatics had for assailing those soldiers when they did. If it wasn’t for them, they’d be dead. “We took that opportunity to run into the swamps.”

“That seems like a whole lot of luck on your side for them to show up then.” Dr. McCarter believed. He had already read the files on what happened, and so he knew their words to be true thus far. He just wanted to hear it from their perspective and also get a comprehension on their affiliation with Subject V. “Do you believe these patients were sent by God to protect you, Cristofer? Or would you say it was all coincidental?”

“I don’t see why God would send them to protect us honestly. It wouldn't matter if he had anyway, because I don’t believe in him.” Cris answered justly, lifting his eyes to the Doctor. “For it to be coincidental? I would think so. We never tried associating with those patients when we were underground. We kept to ourselves. They have no loyalties to us nor us to them.”

“What happened when you went into the swamps? Did you happen to massacre any of the soldiers that were ordered to come after you?” Doctor McCarter solicited, curious if they were solely answerable for the soldiers found deceased in the swamps, or if it was indeed another being they suspected instead.

“Uh..” Cris began, unclear of what to say exactly.

“No, we did NOT kill any of those men!”Connor snapped at the Doctor, utterly lying. To be honest, he wasn't sure how he could expound on all of the lives they took, specifically the soldiers that besieged them while Bert, Otep and Bam went scouting ahead in the swamps for danger. He was hoping he wouldn't have to. “They tried to kill us and almost succeeded, but we did not kill them!”

Doctor McCarter nodded in feign understanding, not entirely sure that that information was accurate. In the swamps, the soldiers had lost their lives by something or someone. Could that someone or something be one of these boys? Doctor McCarter didn't know, but he had a strong feeling someone else was entangled in those ghastly murders in the swamps outside of these four young men, but he wasn't going to broach that subject just yet. Aiming his eyes on the softie of the four, Dr. McCarter inquired. “When did your group come upon the mall, Cristofer?”

Cris bit his lips, trying to remember how long ago that had been. It already felt like several months. “I...I think we found the mall the day after we took refuge at a deserted campsite in the swamp where the soldiers found us.”

Doctor McCarter picked up a clipboard one of his men had handed him earlier and flipped through the pages of it. “It was reported a few military soldiers were discovered dead at a campsite near that mall of yours. Do you know anything about this?”

Connor answered first. “No, we don’t. They must have showed up there after we left because we never saw them before.”

Moving on from that tragedy of many, Dr. McCarter asked the three boys. “So why did you choose the mall to reside in? What called you to that place?”

Simultaneously, the boys shrugged in response. During this whole interview they danced around the genuine truth as much as they could, and for some reason that included mentioning anything pertaining to their lost friend Hermanni. They weren’t certain why, but something in their hearts was just screaming at them to not tell anyone about him, not for his protection, but for their own…but why? What did they need protection for when Hermanni was the one either lost in the swamps or dead somewhere. They hadn’t seen him since they’d been captured and so have no idea what had happened to them. Whatever happened wasn’t important enough for them to start asking questions though. Their lips simply wouldn’t let them, much less speak the boy’s name aloud amongst each other.

Doctor McCarter reached into his briefcase sitting on the floor beside his chair and began to forage for a small folder that contained photos of the mall they were extracted from. Once he retrieved them, he placed each one face up on the table for all of them to view. Cris, Bam, Connor, and even Bert gazed down at the clear pictures and were left confused by what they saw.

“What the hell is this!?” Bert demanded to know, finally speaking up to his father. He briskly caught the light of relief shining in the Doctor’s eyes at hearing his son's voice again and chose to ignore it. “What are you trying to pull, old man!?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, son. I’m not pulling anything.” Dr. McCartered assured him. “These photos were taken of the very mall those soldiers found you in. Don’t you recognize it with your own two eyes?”

It took a few minutes before the shapes of the structures of the mall in the photos started to ring bells in the young lad’s heads. They each shared baffled looks among each other, unwilling to believe their own eyes after all. Something was very wrong here. Perhaps it was their new medication already taking effects on their vision. It had to be! There was no other explanation for what they were seeing.

“This isn’t right.” Bam mumbled to himself, reaching out for a photo of the mattress store they’d slept in night after night. He could see it as clear as day in his own head, and yet that’s not the same image he saw looking back at him. The beds were moldy, the sheets dingy with dust, the headboard blanketed in cobwebs, the lights overhead busted and dangling crookedly from the ceiling, and the room was pitch black. What happened to what used to be their former bedroom? Why would the soldiers defile their home in this way? What would be the motive? To make them feel ever crazier than they already were? Because if so, it was finally working.